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i637" I 887 

Historical Address 



THE FIRST 



Munson Family Reunion 



HELD IN THE 



CITY OF NEW HAVEN, 

Wednesday, August 17, 1887. 



NEW JiAVEN: 
TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 

1887. 






CONSPECTUS OF TOPICS IN THE ADDRESS. 



Salutatory 


13 


Our Adam 


13 


Indian Situation in 1637, 


14 


Colonists' Situation in 1637, . 


15 


(Storm Rising), . 


15 


Pequot War, .... 


16 


(Twilight), . 


17 


Munsoris Transatlantic History, 


17 


Pioneer of Hartford, 


18 


Pioneer of New Haven, 


18 


(Town-Square), . 


18 


(Lands) 


19 


(A Barn) 


19 


Pi ivate Biography, . 


20 


Official Career and Public 




Services 


22 


Committee-man, 


22 


Appraiser, 


23 


Inspector, .... 


23 


Supervisor, . . . . . 


23 


Determiner, .... 


24 


Diplomatist, . 


25 


Executive, .... 


26 


Townsman, . . . . . 


27 


(Hopkins Grammar School), . 


27 


("Third Division"), 


27 


(Speech on the Bell), 


27 


(Seating the Meeting-House), 


28 


Judicial, ..... 


29 



Plantation Court, 

First Jury, .... 

Court of Appeals, 

Legislative, .... 

New Haven General Court, 

Connecticut General Assembly, 

Military, .... 

Sergeant, . 

(Artillery), . 

(Troope), 

Ensign, 

Lieutenant, 

(Grand Committee), 

{King Philip's War), 

Captain, 

Portrait and Character, 

Posterity of Thomas Munson, 

His son Samuel, 

Grandson Samuel, 

Grandson Thomas, 

Grandson John, 

Grandson Theophilus, 

Grandson Joseph, 

Grandson Stephen, 

Grandson Caleb, 

Migrations, . 

A Few Names, 

The Typical Munson, . 

Concluding Generalizations, 



29 

30 
30 
30 
30 
31 
32 
33 
35 
35 
35 
36 
36 
36 
40 
40 
43 
43 
45 
45 
46 
48 
48 
48 
49 
49 
50 
53 
54 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

BY 

Rev. MYRON A. MUNSON, M. A., 

A great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Capt. Thomas Munson. 



I congratulate you, admirable and esteemed cousins, 
upon the dawning of our Quarter-Millennial. Arise we 
and with reverent hands break the seal and roll away 
the stone from the mouth of the family sepulchre. 

This day is the resurrection of the name and the 

Salutatory. . 

fame of our greatest grandsire, 1 nomas Munson. 
With him, at his august beck, step forth from their shad- 
owy habitations in God's-acre sterling sons and delectable 
daughters by thousands, smiling and glad though serene, 
to join with voiceless fellowship and silent rejoicings in 
our commemorative and congratulatory festival. 

Half a thousand minds are eagerly inquiring : What 
was the origin of our venerable originator? He suddenly 
emerges from silence and darkness, — his antecedents as 

mysterious as those of the lightning's flash. He 

Our Adam. 

was never born, — so far as history knows. Do 
we not conceive of the Adam of the human race as about 
twenty-five years of age at the moment of his creation ? 
In a similar manner the Adam of our family, without any 
antecedents or any nativity, suddenly makes his appear- 
ance on the stage of life, like a new creation, at the age of 
twenty-five. This first appearance was at Hartford, by 
the Indians called Suckiaug, two hundred and fifty years 
ago last May, and he is already accoutred as a soldier^ 



i^ A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

about to engage in a war as pregnant with momentous 
results, it may be, as any which has ever been waged. 
At that period the region from the x\tlantic ocean to 
the Alleghanies was one vast, solemn forest, — a paradise 
of war-paths and hunting-grounds. The throne of Indian 
power was among- The Five Nations, of central 

Indian ' & 

situation New York, — usually called The Mohawks, from 
that confederate which enjoyed the supremacy. 
Proud, warlike, vehement, irresistible, their name was a 
terror to all other red-men. Every spring, two old 
Mohawk chiefs might have been seen going from village 
to village through Connecticut, collecting tribute and 
haughtily issuing orders from the great council at 
Onondaga. 

The number of Indians who were occupying the terri- 
tory now known as the State of Connecticut has been 
very diversely estimated at from six or seven to twelve 
or twenty thousand. These estimates imply from 1200 to 
4000 warriors. It is conceived that one-half of these may 
have been Pequots, whose forts and wigwams extended 
along the Sound some thirty miles. The Thames, on 
which New London is situated, was then called Pequot 
river, and one of the two great forts of the nation — the 
one at which the historic battle occurred — was located 
eight miles northeast of New London. The Pequots 
were the most ambitious, the most valiant, the most fierce 
and the most powerful by far of all the communities east- 
ward of the Hudson. They were a terror to all the wide- 
reaching wilderness around them : they were to New 
England what the Mohawks were to the whole country 
eastward of the Mississippi. To them, as well as to the 
Mohawks, the Quinnipiacs of this neighborhood paid 
tribute. 

Such was the Indian situation in the spring of 1637 : 



Situation in 1637. ij 

what was that of the Colonists ? Hartford was two years 

old ; north and south of it, adjoining, were Windsor and 

Wethersfield. Twenty-six miles north was Ae-a- 

Colonists' J ° 

situation wain, one year old ; we know it as Springfield. 

in 1637. 

Sixty miles below Hartford,— forty-six as the 
crow flies, — at the mouth of the river, on the west shore, 
was Saybrook fort, one year old. These five infant settle- 
ments were the only habitations of white men in all the 
Connecticut valley. Their neighbors were about a hun- 
dred miles distant, and mind you these were roadless, 
wilderness miles. There was no New Haven, Milford, 
Guilford, Middletown, Waterbury, — but, rather, Quinni- 
piac, Wepowaug, Menunkatuc, Mattabesett, Mattatuck. 
The Bay State had no Westfield, Northfield, Deerfield, 
Hadley or Northampton, — but, instead, Woronoco, Squak- 
heag, Pocomptuck, Norwottock and Nonotuck. Accord- 
ingly when trouble arose with the Pequots the aspect of 
affairs was extremely serious. The white settlements 
could muster two hundred and fifty or two hundred and 
seventy-five men capable of bearing arms ; there were 
5000 Indian braves within easy marching distance of the 
mouth of the Connecticut. 

Endicott's expedition, calling the Pequots to account 

for murders, converted that nation into a gigantic hornets' 

nest. Killing whites became their recreation. Several at 

Wethersfield were assassinated and two girls were 

7ng.) RiS ~ carr i e d into captivity. The savages, dressed in 
the clothes of the English whom they had mur- 
dered, would approach the fort at Saybrook with defiant 
jeers : " Come out and get your clothes again !" and they 
would mimic and mock the prayers and shrieks and groans 
of the wretched colonists whom they had tortured. Great 
was the distress of the settlements. A cunning and fero- 
cious enemy haunted them and hunted them day and night. 



16 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

Ninety men, of whom forty-two were furnished by 

Hartford, descended the Connecticut under the leadership 

of Capt. Mason, and sailed eastward past the Pequot 

country to the vicinity of Point Judith : seventy - 

P \var 0t seven men disembarked among the Narragansetts, 

took up their march westerly, and, at daybreak on 

the 5th of June, surprised one of the hostile forts — a palisade 

on a hill, enclosing about an acre, and embracing seventy 

wigwams. A dog barked — a Pequot yelled, " Owanux ! 

Owanux !" In rushed the lion-like pale-faces and engaged 

in a desultory, heroical warfare. At length, in desperation, 

the commander seized a fire-brand and applied it to the dry 

mats with which one of the rude dwellings was covered. 

Several hundred of the Pequots perished by the musket, 

the sword and the conflagration, and only seven escaped. 

While the victorious army was . retreating, three hun- 
dred warriors, dispatched by Sassacus from the other 
fortress, rapidly approached until they beheld the smoking 
and smouldering ruins which were the crematory of their 
brethren ; then stamping and tearing their hair, they rushed 
down with great fury upon the conquerors. They were 
promptly repulsed, with a hundred slain and wounded. 

It was in this terrific war, pregnant with inexpressibly 
momentous consequences, that Thomas Munson made his 
first appearance, two centuries and a half ago ; and he was 
preeminently a military man during the forty-eight years 
which followed. 

You may note, if you please, that our spirited and in- 
trepid soldier received an allotment in the Soldiers' Field, 
(on the northern margin of Hartford,) in recognition of 
his meritorious services in this war, and that he was sub- 
sequently presented with an additional hundred acres for 
the same cause. 1 

1 " The Soldiers' Field and its Original Proprietors," by F. H. Parker, Esq. 



Munsoris Transatlantic History. 77 

We have recognized that Hartford was two years old 
at the date of the Pequot war ; whether Soldier Munson 

(Twilight.) had been there from the beginning, as is most 
likely, we are not informed. He had probably 
spent some months or years in the older towns about 
Massachusetts Bay ; but we lack light upon the subject. 
Boston, at the time of the war, was seven years old ; 
Salem, nine ; Plymouth, seventeen. 

Munsoris Transatlantic History. 

In respect to his transatlantic history there is nothing 
known -with positiveness. Traditions have come down, 
along numerous and widely separated family lines, that 
he had some kind of connection with Wales; and it is 
the only tradition concerning him which has any value 
whatever. In some way his early history acquired a Welsh 
tinge. But there is no doubt of his English nationality. 
The Monson race belonging to the peerage has a known 
and accepted history of five hundred years ; our Amer- 
ican history extends back one-half that distance; the 
presumption is almost a certainty that our branch is 
from that ancient trunk. Lord Monson, Aide-de-Camp 
to the Queen, concluded his fourth letter to me, 11 
March, 1887, in this graceful way: "With best wishes 
for the welfare of my Transatlantic Cousins and fpr the 
success of your Autumnal gathering." A brother of Lord 
Monson, Sir Edmund, Her Majesty's Minister to the King 
of Denmark, wrote from Copenhagen, July 24, 1886: 
" When I was appointed Attache to the British Legation 
at Washington, in 1858, my Father, Lord Monson, 
... was very anxious to know the subsequent career 
of the Monsons which had emigrated to America in the 



1 8 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

Seventeenth Century." Sir Edmund observes again : " I 
have little doubt that our common ancestor was a Dane." 

Turning- from things obscure, let us return to what may 
be known. Our forefather was born two hundred and 
seventy-five years ago, somewhere, and two hundred and 
fifty years ago was a pioneer of Hartford and 
Hartford participated in the Pequot war ; after the war, he 
continued to reside in that plantation a little 
more than two years, apparently, — having a house-lot com- 
prising two and one-half acres on the present High street, 
opposite the head of Walnut : this street was then known as 
" the highway leading from the Cow-pasture to Mr. Allen's 
land." There was a house on this ground in February, 
1640, which was probably built by Munson. Previously 
to this date he had sold the place to Nath. Kellogge, and 
he had also sold his portion of the Soldiers' Field. Two 
parcels of land, on opposite sides of the Connecticut river, 
had been forfeited by his removal from the plantation. 

In 1639, at the age of twenty-seven, Thomas became a 

pioneer of New Haven, then known as Ouinnipiac. The 

settlement was begun the preceding year. The beginners 

had laid out a town-site half a mile square, hav- 

Pioneer of .. .. 

New Haven, ing its base, on the south, parallel to the West 

Creek, and having its east side parallel with East 

Creek ; both of these arms of the sea were navigable. 

The town-plot was divided into nine equal squares, of 

which the central was called the Market-place, 

g °™~ designed for public uses ; it is the famous Green, 

upon which we are now assembled. Each of the 

eight streets was called " the towne streete " — having no 

distinctive name, and at the end of each there was a gate. 

In the Market-place the military forces were drilled, and 

here they assembled when an alarm was sounded. Here 

was the watch-house, the head-quarters of the night- 



New Haven Beginnings. i<? 

watchmen. Here were the other public buildings, — and 
especially the public building called the Meeting-house, 
which was the sanctuary where all worshiped, but also 
the town-house, court-house, state-house, and, to some 
extent at least, the arsenal. " The Church of Christ in 
New Haven," which was the only ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion within the limits of the present town during the first 
one hundred and four years of its history, still survives 
and has opened to us its hospitable doors on this occasion. 
The " Proprietors " purchased lands from the Indians 
with a common fund, and there were nine " divisions " of 
different sections of the so-called common-land, extending 
over a hundred and twenty years. 1 The amount of land 
each proprietor received in the distribution was 

(Lands.) 

determined by his investment in the common 
stock, the number of heads in his family, his official dig- 
nity, and other considerations. The size of the house-lots 
in the town-square was similarly determined. To certain 
settlers who did not contribute to the common stock 
" small lots " were granted, — most of them along the West 
Creek, opposite the town-square. Such " planters " also 
received* limited allotments of land in the second " divi- 
sion, " — " layd out beyond the East River betwixt our 
pastors farme and the Indians wiggwams." 

On the north side of the town-square was the house-lot 
of Robert Newman, afterwards ruling-elder. That lot, of 
perhaps two and one-half acres, is now divided by Temple 
street, whose su\ erb Gothic arch of elms you admired as 
you wen- entering this sanctuary. On Mr. New- 
man's place was a barn, — Cotton Mather calls it 
" a mighty barn," — which was utilized as a place of civic 
and religious assembly before the erection of a meeting- 
house. In that historic barn the constitution of the 

1 Ninth division in 1760. 



20 A Hartford and Nezv Haven Pioneer. 

colony was created in June, 1639. It was ordained that 
those not present 1 who were to be "planters," should 
subscribe this " Fundamental Agreement," as it was called, 
with their own hand ; and so it comes to pass that we 
have the autograph of Thomas Munson, which is sixth 
in a list of forty-eight. 

The first definite date touching Thomas Munson's his- 
tory as a New Havener is April 3d, 1640, when the court 
ordered " thatt brother Andrewes and brother Mounson 
shall veiw the grounds of difference betwixt Mr. Malbon 
and Thomas Mouleno 1 the elder." This appointment was 
complimentary to "brother Mounson" as a new-comer, 
and only twenty-eight years of age. 

And now, patient seekers for knowledge, we have some- 
what tediously worked our way through the fogs and 
snags and sand-bars of the subject into an open sea where 
fair sailing rewards us. 



Private Biography. 

The private biography of our ancestor, as knoVn to us, 
is very brief. 

As early as 1640, he received one of the " small lots " 
on the south side of George Street, along the West Creek. 
Eleven years later, intending probably to remove to Dela- 
ware Bay, he disposed of his lot together with a dwelling- 
house, barn, shop, hen-house, garden and trees. His 
residence the next five years is unrevealed. In 1656, he 
bought the lot on the southeast corner of Elm and Church 
streets, opposite the Green, where the " Blue Meeting- 
house " afterwards stood ; just below, on Elm street, were 
the habitations of Mr. Davenport and Gov. Eaton. 

1 Sixty-three names of those present were inscribed by the secretary. 



Private BiograpJiy. 21 

Six years later he purchased the place formerly owned 
by Robert Newman on Grove street— now bisected by 
Temple street. This was his home during the last 
twenty-three years of his life. His neighbor eastward 
was Andrewes, the ex-innkeeper ; his neighbors westward 
were Benjamin Linge and his life-long guest, Col. Dixwell, 
the regicide. Capt. Munson's home was afterwards 
owned by his son and three of his grandsons successively ; 
and in more recent times Noah Webster, the maker of 
dictionaries, had a residence on that ground. 

Thomas was the father of three children : Elizabeth, the 
wife of Richard Higginbothom, a tailor, who removed to 
Elizabethtown, N. J., and thence to Stamford ; Samuel, to 
whom we shall return later; and Hannah, who married 
Joseph Tuttle. 

We know little of the domestic animals which added 
animation to the home-life of these children ; but there is 
distinct mention of a dog — not a detestable barking 
whelp, but an exemplary creature — one that is silent, 
thoughtful and courageous, and willing to bite — when 
that is his duty. This worthy fellow's function was to 
discourage stupidity. Accordingly, in 1661, just ten days 
before the arrival of Goffe and Whalley, some ill-natured 
inhabitant complained of certain " doggs w ch bite horses 
as they passe in the streets, to the endangering of their 
Riders: Sargent Munsons dogg, and Thos. Johnsons 
dogg, was spoken off." Well— some people are hard to 
please. Sydney Smith says he once heard a man " speak 
disrespectfully of the equator." 

Our first father owned 'lands which he cultivated; but 
his trade was that of a carpenter. He and Boykin con- 
tracted to do a part of the work in building the first 
meeting-house, — in particular, some work connected with 
the tower and turret. He and Andrewes built the first 



22 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

bridge over the Quinnipiac. His business was not limited 
to the New Haven plantation. You should add that his 
enterprising spirit led him to take a deep practical interest 
in the project of establishing a colony at Delaware Bay. 

Though, as a recent writer remarks, " there was a 
woful shrinkage of estate in those days," though there 
were pervasive business disasters and impoverishing wars, 
and though our public-spirited forefather was consumingly 
devoted to civic and military service, yet, beginning as 
we suppose empty-handed, he came to be numbered with 
the wealthy. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that this man worshiped 
and served the Almighty Lord, and was for some forty- 
five years, a member of the church which assembles under 
this roof. His burial, in 1685, was on the Green, a few 
yards from this spot, where Joanna his wife had been 
interred seven years previously. The grave-stones of 
both may be seen in the old cemetery. 



OFFICIAL CAREER AND PUBLIC SERVICES. 

Turn we now, Mr. President and worthy kinsmen, to 
the official career and the public services of Thomas 
Munson. We give attention to a number of points in his 
wide and rich experience as a committee-man, and then 
take up the honorable story of his executive, judicial, 
legislative and military career. ' 

Committee-man. 

The term committee (pardon this parenthesis) ordi- 
narily indicates a number of men who are appointed by a 
larger body to examine into some particular matter or 



Official Career. 23 

manage some specific affair ; this one thing done, it ceases. 
Its limitation is a peculiarity. 

Munson was appointed by government to appraise 
property ; I have noted ten estates of which he 

Appraiser. 

was an appraiser. In 1070 he was member 01 a 
colonial committee " to set an appraisement upon the land 
belonging to the several plantations." 

He was often appointed (with others) to " view " objects 
and conditions. Thus he viewed ' the " way to the 
Plaines " where a highway was to be located ; he viewed 2 

the Ouinnipiac to select a site for a bridge ; he 

Inspector. . . . 

inspected the equipment 01 the cavalry ; he 
inspected the West Bridge 4 and the historic Neck Bridge 6 
which, four years later, afforded refuge to Goffe and 
Whalley when nearly overtaken by King Charles's emis- 
saries ; he inspected the condition of the first meeting- 
house eight times within twenty-one years, 6 — the last 
time using his influence decisively, it would appear, in 
favor of building a new house instead of multiplying 
repairs upon the old. At an uncertain date, " The Townes 
men Agreed to goe to all the Inhabitance [of the] Towne 
and farmes to see how the children are educate in reading 

the word of God : Lievtenant Munson and J Chidsey 

for the square of the Towne," etc. 

Munson was appointed (with others) to supervise work 

for the public : to fence vacant lots ; 7 to construct a chest 

in the meeting-house " to putt the pikes in to keepe them 

from warping ;" e " to mend y e ladder " by which 

Supervisor. . 

a sentinel on " dayes of publique meeting " went 
up to take his stand upon the meeting-house ; 9 to provide 
a suitable building for " a Colony Schoole (for teaching of 

1 1642. 2 1646. 3 Alone ; 1656. 4 1656. 5 1651 and 1657. 
6 1647, 1648 — Jan. and July, 1659, 1662 — Apr. and Aug., 1665, 1668. 
1 1641. 8 1645. 9 1649. 



2 j. A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

latine, Greeke, & Hebrew) ;" l to execute an order " that 
the market place be forth-with cleared & the wood carryed 
to the watch-howse & there piled for the vse & succour of 
the watch in cold weather." 2 In 1658 a scheme six years 
old had become so interesting that Thomas Munson and 
three others were chosen to consider whether " ye beavour 
pond brooke can be brought to the Towne, that the mill 
might be set up here ;" this committee reported to another 
plenipotentiary committee of which Munson was a mem- 
ber, and the bold work was undertaken. In the records 
there is an abstract of a speech upon this subject by our 
ancestor, in which he specifies "the great dam," " y e great 
trench," and the " pen-stocke " of which there is mention 
twenty years later. 

This man, who was so rich in the faculty of judgment, 
was a member of committees to make final determinations. 
In two or more cases he was chosen as arbiter. 3 He was 
selected (with others) to lay out roads, as " the 
highway from Woodbury to Pawgasuck [i. e. 
Derby] to the most convenient place for a ferry ;" 4 
and also the conspicuous East Haven thoroughfare, 
agreeably to this record under date of 1677: " Capt. 
Munson informed y e Towne, that himselfe Capt. Rosewell 
& John Cooper seneor who was appointed by y e Towne 
had now stated out and settled a highway from y e ferry 
unto y e farmes at y e iron works." He was chosen to 
establish the boundaries of towns. Thus, in 1671, the 
General Court " appoints L nt Thomas Munson to runn the 
depth of the bownds of Brandford and Guilford to the 
northwards, according to their grant." In 1674 the Lieu- 
tenant assisted in establishing the " diuideing bownds " 
between New Haven and Branford ; and in 1675 he was 
on a committee " to see to the settlement of both the 

1 1660. " i6.)5. 3 1649, 1654. 4 1675. 



Committee-man. 25 

bownds and distribution of lands" in the new plantation 
of Derby. In 1679 "The Town did appoint Mr. W m 
Jones, Tho : Munson & John Cooper seneor theyer 
comittee to state out y e Indians Land on y e east side." 
Our judicious ancestor served on committees whose 
duties were diplomatic, — as, e. g., to persuade W m 
Andrewes "not to give up keeping the ordinarie;" 1 to 
treat with Fowler concerning the sale of his 

Diplomatist. . . 

interest in the mill ; to treat with Christopher 
Todd concerning " y e removeall of y 9 mills on this side 
nearer y e rocke & soe to make y m breast mills ;" 8 " to treat 
with the Indians about some matters of complaint, as, 
planting where they ought not," " killing of hoggs, and 
stealing pease ;" 4 and again, pending the inquiry " whether 
a village might be settled neare the black Rock " — a not- 
able promontory on the east side of the harbor and at the 
north end of The Cove — the site of a fort in the Revolu- 
tionary days, — " Brother Andrewes and Bro : Munson 
were desired to Treat with the Indians about the ex- 
change of some Land." '' One other item : within two or 
three years after the English founded New Haven, some 
of the colonists purchased large tracts of land on both 
sides of the Delaware ; but the hostility of the Swedes 
and the Dutch spoiled their attempts at trade and settle- 
ment. In 1654 there was a revival of the Delaware move- 
ment, and a committee was constituted, including Munson, 
" to whom," says the record, " any that are willing to goe 
may rapaire to be taken notice of." Early in the next 
year, between fifty and sixty men had found leaders of 
nerve and enterprise in Munson and Cooper, and attempted 
very resolutely to establish plantations at Delaware Bay, 
with a view to erecting eventually a separate common- 

1 1648. 2 165S. 3 1671. 4 1654. 5 1660. 



26 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

wealth. The records of the General Court for 1655 con- 
tain the petition of the adventurers, with the conclusion, 
namely : " The Court returned, That having read and 
considered .... some propositions presented by 
Thomas Munson and John Cooper, of New Haven, in the 
name and behalfe of sundrie persons of this jurisdiction 
and elsewhere, appearing as undertaker for the first plant- 
ing of Delaware, .... they are willing .... 
to grant libertie to one or both of those magistrates men- 
tioned to goe alonge with them And they 

purpose when God shall so enlarge the English planta- 
tions in Delaware as that they shall grow the greater part 
of the jurisdiction .... the gouernor may be one 
yeare in one part and the next yeare in another," &c. 
Samuel Eaton, Francis Newman and Stephen Goodyear 
were disposed to have a hand in this high enterprise ; but 
it was presently reported that three ships had " come to 
the Sweeds," difficulties loomed up formidably, and the 
great and superb project took its place with the splendid 
visions of Dante and Milton. 



Executive. 

It is time to direct attention to our pioneer's record as 
an executive officer, elected for lengthened periods of 
service. The modest though at that time important and 
respectable position of viewer of fences ] need not detain 
us. Our Lieutenant was made plantation-commissary 
when that office was created at the beginning of King 
Philip's war." He was chosen treasurer of the town for 
the unexpired term of Benjamin Linge. 3 Three years he 
was elected lister or assessor. 4 He served as Townsman 

1 1641, 1644, 1660, 1663, 1667. 3 1675. 3 1669. 4 1649, l668 > l6 7 8 - 



Executive Officer : Townsman. 2 J 

thirteen years, 1 first in 1656 and last in 1683 ; four 
years he was at the head of the board. It de- 
volved upon him and his associates to take a census of the 
Quinnipiac Indians and of the acres of land allotted to 
them ; 2 to change the location of the ferry to " the Red 
Rocke;" 3 to encourage the erection of a village for the 
inhabitants at Stony River and South End (East Haven) ; 4 
to resurrect and revivify the Hopkins Grammar School B 
— the Captain, as chief of the Townsmen, making 

(Hopkins r ' & 

Grammar a speech and Deputy-Governor Jones following ; 

School.) . , , • 1 

to consider whether health requires that burials 
upon The Green should cease, 6 — though it was yet one 
hundred and thirty-eight years before the place of burial 
was changed ; 7 to consider, again, whether the burying- 
place — " about 20 rod square " — ought not to " be fenced 
about and kept in a comely manner," — but the matter had 
hindrance until 1690, when an order was issued that the 
place of burial " be fencd with a stone wall ... in 
Ovall fforme." 

As a townsman Capt. Munson was desired 8 (with others) 
to revise the report of a former committee on the third 

division of common-land, " and allsoe to endeavor 
Division.-) to purchase of y e Indians such lands as are yet 

unpurchased." This division took place in 1680 ; 
the first and second had occurred in 1640. 

The call to public meetings — religious, military and 
c i v i c — during forty-three years, was by a drum beaten in 
the turret on the meeting-house, and often. about some of 

the streets. The drummer was instructed " to 
^J^BeiiT observe y e winde & beat so that y e whole towne 

1 1656, 1657, 1658, 1662, 1663 (First), 1668, 1675, 1676 (First), 1677, 1678 

t 
(First), 1681, 1682, 1683 (First). This office was known later as that of select- 
man. 2 1682. 3 1668. 4 1679. 6 1677. 

6 1659. 7 1797: stones removed, 1S21. 8 1678. 



28 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

may heare." In 1681, more than two centuries ago, a 
bell was brought into the harbor, — of which the public 
records take notice as follows : " Gapt. Thomas Munson 
on of y e townsmen declared y e occasion of this meeting 
was to Considder y e buysines of y e bell for y e Townes 
use which was spoken of the last Towne meeting (which 
meeting was in April last) at which y e Townsmen were 
desyred to Considder y e matter how y e bell might suit 
y e Townes occasions and to veiw y e Terrett of y e meet- 
ing house, and to make returne to y e Towne of theyer 
apprehensions in y e Case : Now they had veiwed the s d 
Terrett and doe judg y e place may be fitted to hang it in 
for y e use of y e Towne, and allsoe being informed that y e 
owner of y e bell had sent to have it brought to ye Bay ' 
in Joseph Allsups vessell, and that y e sayd Joseph had 
undertaken that y e Bell should yet stay untill another 
returne, and it having Lyen soe long it would not be han- 
som for y e Town to put it of, and therefore it wer neces- 
sary that now y e Towne would Considder whether they 
will have it or not and how to raise y e pay for it which 
will bee fourteen pound in money." It was voted that 
the bell be purchased, and that the townsmen have it 
properly hanged for use. 

In 1678 our Captain had a hand ex officio in the delicate 
task of seating the Meeting-house. The men were to 
occupy one side of the house and the women the other, 
while the assignment of places to individuals was to have 
(Seatin the res P ect to civic dignity, military rank, age, 
Meeting- wealth, social value, and so on. Mr. Jones 

House. 

reported that the committee had finished seating 
the men " and had begun y e seating of women but found 
some dificulty in that matter." Ah yes, — that beautiful 
absence of " dificulty " in the seating of men ! The 

1 Massachusetts. 



Judicial. 2g 

report alleged some " want of Roome," with reference to 
which " Divers desyred that y" women might be seated 
as farr as seats would reach ;" but it was cautiously 
replied " that y e comittee had some reasons that were not 
meet to mention at this time." The ex-Deputy-Governor, 
who had risked his neck to defend Goffe and Whalley 
against Charles II., was mindful that a bird of the air 
would repeat every word of the discussion to the Hannahs 
and Elizabeths and Temperances ; and the Townsman and 
Soldier who had faced Pequots, hostile New Yorkers 
under Andross, the embattled Dutch, and the terrible 
conspiracy under King Philip, could not forget that every 
whisper in the meeting would be telephoned to the " pink 
and white tyrants " named Joanna and Rebecca and 
Charity and Prudence ; and Jones and Munson resolved 
upon a masterly discretion. 



Judicial. 

We pass now to Thomas Munson's judicial career. 

At the age of fifty-one he was elected to the Plantation 

Court, a tribunal which was convened monthly " to hear 

and determine inferiour causes," — if " Civill," "in valew 

not exceeding twenty Pounds ;" if " Criminall," 

Plantation ' . . 

Court. when the punishment by Scripture Light, ex- 
ceeds not stocking, and whipping," or " when 
the fine exceeds not five Pounds." The " fitt and able 
men " chosen for this service are styled " the ordinary 
judges." Those elected in 1662 were " Mr. John Daven- 
port, Jun., Leiftenant John Nash, Ensigne Thomas Mun- 
son, and James Bishop." They were all twice re-elected, 
and they held office until Charles II. united the New 
Haven and Connecticut colonies. 



-, A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

It was not until after the Union that trial by jury was 
instituted. Lieut. Munson was a member of the first jury 

impanelled at New Haven, 1 and he was its fore- 
First Jury. _ 

man. This was in October. He was also fore- 
man of the juries in January and February following. 

In 1666 the Lieutenant was designated as supernu- 
merary Commissioner, to perform duty as a member of 
the monthly court, in a contingency. 

Again, our pioneer was a member for many years of the 

supreme Court of Appeals, in that period, to wit, the 

General Court for the Jurisdiction, — at first that of New 

Haven colony, and after the Union, that of Con- 

comtof nec ti cu t. One of the six general functions of 

Appeals. ° 

this high court, in the New Haven colony, was 
thus stated : " To hear and determine all causey, whether 
Civil or Criminall, w c h by appeal or complaint shall be 
orderly brought unto them, either from any inferior 
Court, or from any of the Plantations." In Connecticut 
colony a similar custom was in force. 2 



Legislative. 

Let us now advance to contemplate Munson's career as 
a legislator. 

In 1662 and 1663 he was elected "third man " or substi- 
tute deputy for four sessions of the General Court of New 
Haven colony, and at the third session he had occasion to 
take his seat and act. In 1664 he was elected 

New Haven ' 

General deputy for two sessions of the same body. The 

Court. , \ J 

next year, — it will be remembered that there was 
a great deal of contention between the colonies in regard 
to a union, — Connecticut invited New Haven to send 
deputies to a General Assembly to be holden on the 15th 

1 1665. 2 1683. 



As a Legislator. r ji 

of March. " After much debate," says the record, " it 
was thought best to send," and Lieut. Thomas Munson 
and John Cooper were chosen to represent the community. 
That meeting - of the Assembly was "put by," and a sum- 
mons to another for April 20th being issued, " the former 
deputies declaring themselves not willing to goe," there 
was a new choice, though a minority objected to sending. 
There is no doubt that the unwritten history connected 
with these events would be very entertaining if we could 
recover it. Lieut. Munson was chosen "third man" for 
the October session of 1665, and he was elected to the 
same situation in 1668 and 1684. 

In 1666 he was elected deputy to the General Assembly, 

and he served in this capacity twenty -four sessions, a very 

impressive testimony to the extraordinary esteem 

Connecticut 

General in which his legislative qualifications were held. 

Assembly. . 

it appears, therefore, that he represented JNew 
Haven in the colonial legislatures twenty-seven sessions. 
He was in the Assembly nineteen consecutive sessions, 
with one exception during King Philip's war when he was 
engrossed with military duties. The town was represented 
by two persons each session. During thirteen years, 1669- 
1682, there were fifty-six individual elections of deputies, 
twenty-three of which fell to Munson and thirty-three to 
seven other men, — the former being elected more times 
than any three of his competitors, — while in every instance 
except one he was at the head of the delegation, — evinc- 
ing his easy preeminence among the sterling citizens who 
filled this office in his time. 

Be it observed that legislation in the age of Pioneer 
Munson was something else than atomizing rose-water. 
It was the mighty task of sagacious statesmen. Not theirs 
the vocation to conserve and administer a ready-made 

1 1669-1678. 



j2 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

system. They had need to be colossal inventors in the 
sphere of government, for they were founders of new, 
unique, exemplary institutions. Liberty regulated by law 
was the beneficent object to be attained. To originate 
and elaborate a fabric of self-government — an expression 
of intelligence, wisdom and virtue, and to be maintained 
by intelligence, wisdom and virtue, — this, conducted in 
allegiance to the divine government, was the sublime task 
assumed by the colonial legislators. And this work, you 
should remark, might not be done at leisure, but amidst 
diversions and embarrassments springing from other un- 
friendly and often hostile communities, — the aborigines, 
the English and again the Dutch of New York, the Rhode 
Islanders, and we may as well add, (softly,) the English 
Crown. 



Military. 

There remains to be considered the military career of 
our versatile and indefatigable forefather. 

A few explanations may be premised. The earlier mus- 
ket ' was a match-lock ; " four fathom of match " was the 
allowance for each, and those performing guard-duty dur- 
ing the time of meeting on the Lord's-Days, were to " have 
their matches lighted." These muskets gave way grad- 
ually to flint-locks ; five or six good flints fitted to each of 
these were the allowance. Pikes fourteen feet long were 
used by the infantry, and half-pikes, ten feet long, were 
used by " dragoones," i. e., soldiers trained to perform 
duty either as infantry or cavalry. One in five was pro- 
vided with this weapon. 2 The artillery were also drilled 
in its use. Every family was to furnish itself with a coat 

1 l6 43- " In Connecticut Colony, 1666. 



As a Soldier. 



j>j> 



of canvas " quilted with cotton woole," to serve as a 
" defence against Indian arrowes." The inspection of 
arms took place "at the meeting-house." 1 

The "trained band," mentioned as early as April, 1640, 
included every male from sixteen to sixty years of age," 
and comprised at first four squadrons, with four sergeants. 
Each man was equipped with a gun and a sword. 3 There 
were at least six " traynings " every year. The "watch" 
was set by a sergeant "one hour after sunset," 4 and each 
of three pairs patrolled by turns. An alarm was sounded 6 
by a discharge of arms, with a cry of " Fire ! fire !" or 
" Arme ! arme !" according to the nature of the danger ; 
the beating of the drum was added. One-fourth of the 
"trayned bard " 8 (and in times of special peril, all 9 ) were 
to come to public worship " with their armes Compleat ;" 
others, six only exempted, "are to bring their swords." 6 
While one sentinel stood on the meeting-house, another 
stood at the door, and two patrols walked the streets. 7 

In August, 1642, " bro : Mounson " was chosen Sergeant 
of the "Trayned Band," an office ranking perhaps with 
that of major in our late war. For nineteen years he is 
called by this title, and very busy years they 
must have been, with the trainings, the setting of 
night-watches, and attending to the guard on days of pub- 
lic meetings, and to the armed contingent among the 
worshipers, — to which were added special proceedings at 
frequent periods when dangers threatened. That his 
services as an officer were appreciated is evinced by a 
record under date of Sept. 10, 1649: "The Gouerner 
Informed the Court that Sarjant Munson is aboute goeing 
To Connecticote, to staye this winter : therefore the Court 

1 1649. 2 1644. s 1644* 4 1648. 5 1640. 6 1644. ' June, 1644. 
8 1640. 9 1653. 

3 



? y A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

maye Consider whether it be safe for y e towne to lett him 
goe : ... the Court thought it not fitt that he should 
now goe : but desired the Gouerner to Informe them at 
Connecticote whom it Concernes, that it is not his neglect : 
but the Towne hinders him for publique respects." 

At some court, 1 there was complaint of the Sergeant's 
" neglecting to give out the bills . . in season, . . . 
whereby the watch could not be full one night." A fine 
of 6 s : 8 d : was ordered ; but it was subsequently remitted. 
He was once 2 complained of for "taking away 3 hands 
fro m traynings to goe fetch hay." Some one had broken a 
promise to attend to it " while he was gonn to Moheigen." 
The motive was imperious, — it was the only chance, even 
with the help of " Canowes," — but " he was fyned 2/8 each 
person." Again 3 he was accused of taking some men 
from the company "upon A trayning day," and "said he 
would Answer it." He replied that "the thing was not 
True." The Pastor's " sellar " was to be "stoned," and 
he desired the Sergeant to " gitt helpe & Come & under- 
sett the house," on a certain day. " That will be training 
day," replied the officer. But Mr. Davenport said, " lett 
him gett men and he would freely paye the fine if the 
towne required it." The Sergeant alleged, moreover, 
that " he came not at the Company that morning." After 
some testimony was offered, " The Court told Sarient 
Munson that it seemed there was some mistake in the buis- 
enes." These proceedings were in the " Particular Court." 
In the General Court, a month later, 4 the Governor called 
on any who could establish the charge against the officer, 
" to speake ; if not that then he may be Cleared & men be 
more wary how they expresse themselves : but none spake 
to Charge him but rather To Cleare him & so it was past 
by." A malcontent charged the Sergeant with " partial- 

1 1649. 2 1646. * l648- 4 l64g 



As a Soldier. jj 

litie " ] in omitting to present the names of some members 
of his squadron who had come late to public worship and 
of others who " brought not their Amies." As a result 
of the examination, the accuser " was Tould he had not 
Carried it well : he should not have lett it passe till he 
was Complained of himselfe, and then in his distemper 
declare it : . . . but he said he was sorry for it : Ser- 
iant Munson was told y l the Court Judged hime faithful 
in his Trust." 

In 1654, His Highness, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector 
of England, Scotland and Ireland, desired the New Eng- 
land colonies to unite in an expedition against the " Dutch 
oh Hudsons River," in reinforcement of his warfare against 
Holland. The New Haven colony raised a force, of 
which Munson was chosen first Sergeant ; but before the 
levy got. under way, news came that peace had been 
concluded. 

When an " Artillary Company " was organized in 1645, 

our Sergeant was constituted a sergeant of that company, 

though without vacating his office in the Trained 

(Artillery.) , .... 

Band. He appears to have retained his connec- 
tion with the artillery three years. Of the six " great 
guns " mentioned, three were located near the Meeting- 
house and three at the water-side. 2 

When a small Troope was raised in 1656, Thomas Mun- 
son was one of those who volunteered for that 
form of service. The organization existed seven 
years. 

In 1 661 Sergeant Munson, with some misgiving, accepted 
the office of Ensign or color-bearer. After two years he 
desired to be released from the position, alleging his insuf- 
ficiency, " especially in windy weather." At the 
end of the third year, complaint was made that 

1 1648. 2 How early, the writer cannot say. 



?d A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

the colors did not appear in the company. The Ensign 
reminded the public of his resignation, whereupon a word 
of reproof was murmured and the Ensign was immediately 
promoted to the office of Lieutenant. 1 

This office was perhaps equivalent in rank to that of 

colonel in our late war. Munson served as Lieutenant 

twelve years. In 1673, while England and Holland were 

at war, the Dutch re-captured New York from 

Lieutenant. „, . , , , 

the English. Connecticut colony took alarm, 
and appointed a " Grand Committee " for defence', with 
full power to commission officers, and to press men, horses, 

ships, arms, ammunition and provisions, and, in a 

(Grand r 

committee.) word, to direct military proceedings in the best 
way they can. Munson was a member of this 
committee. It was ordered, moreover, that 500 dragoons 
be raised, and that if any forces should be sent out of New 
Haven County for the relief of another county, Munson 
should be Lieutenant of. the same. Four days later the 
Grand Committee order that each dragoon have a horse, 
a sword, a musket, and a half-pike, and that Munson be 
Lieutenant of those raised in New Haven County. Three 
months and a half later, 2 the General Court resolves to 
send forth forces, by sea and land, against New York, and 
institutes " a standing Councell of Warr " with full power, 
and of this Council the Lieutenant was a member. Some 
forces sailed to the east end of Long Island and expelled 
the enemy from that region ; but the " eminent dangers of 
warr " were mainly averted until peace was proclaimed. 
We come now to the period of King Philip's war, just 
one hundred years before the war of the Revolution. We 
{Kin have only an occasional glimpse of Lieut. Mun- 
phiiips son's movements in this gfloomv and horrid con- 

War.) & J 

1 1664. 5 Nov. 26, 1673. 



King Philip's War. jy 

test with the barbarians ; for the records are too meagre 
and indefinite. 

July 2nd, 1675, a public meeting was "suddenly" called 
on receiving news that Philip, "a bloody man," had as- 
saulted "seacunck" and " swansy " in Plymouth colony, 
while there had also been disturbance " in the Narro- 
gancett Country." Some houses had been burned, about 
thirty English slain, and Philip's savages were " engageing 
the Indians rownd about by sending locks of some English 
they haue slayne, from one place to another." The col- 
ony immediately took up arms. The forces raised at New 
Haven and other towns on the shore marched towards 
New London and Stonington. Our Lieutenant was of 
this army. 

But the march was interrupted at Saybrook fort by 
tidings of the approach of another foe. The odious 
Andross, recently appointed governor of New York, was 
behaving in his office like a great, saucy, conscienceless 
boy whose chief ambition was to act the bully. He 
claimed and protested that his government extended to 
the Connecticut river. His bad spirit and his threatening 
messages made the Connecticut colony suspicious of him, 
even when, as on this occasion, he loudly professed the 
most innocent and benevolent intentions. With three 
vessels and a military force he arrived off Saybrook, July 
8th, — alleging that his purpose was to defend the English 
colonists from the hostile savages ; but a memorandum of 
his, found in the Secretary's Office fourteen years later, 
acknowledged that he went to the mouth of the Connect- 
icut to take possession by surprise, " but was prevented 
by the opposition of two companies of men then lodged 
there ready to go out against the Indians." The proceed- 
ings of Andross in asserting his claims, and of the soldier- 
colonists in denying and combating them, were uncom- 



3 8 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

monly picturesque. After five or six days Andross set 
sail, and Capt. Bull was instructed, July 16th, " to leaue 
Lnt. Munson to comand at Saybrooke w th some forces for 
the security of that place," while he himself should march 
" with as many forces as can be spared," towards New 
London and Stonington, to secure the frontier against the 
Indians. 

In August the Indians on the Connecticut, above North- 
ampton, began to evince hostility ; in the latter part of 
the month, the Norwottogs at Hadley assaulted the plan- 
tations there. Major Treat marched from Connecticut 
with an army, August 31st, his route to Northampton 
being via Westfield. 

September 19th, the following commission was issued 
to our gallant ancestor : 

" To Thomas Munson, L nt . 

"These are in his Ma tieB Name to will and require you 
to take under your conduct the forces that now com from 
the County of New Haven ; and them you are forthwith 
to lead up to Norwottock, and from thence up the River 
to our army, with whom you are to joyne in the defence 
of those plantations up the River; and you are to kill and 
destroy all such Indian enemies as shall assault you or the 
sayd plantations," etc. Norwottock (now Hadley) was 
the headquarters of the colonial army. There was a fort 
in the bend of the river at that point. Already Northfield 
and Deerfield had fallen before the enemy, and " the flower 
of Essex " had been massacred at Bloody Brook. 

We can seldom individualize our ancestor amidst the 
smoke, the confusion, the multiform obscuration of Philip's 
war. Fifteen days later, the Agawams, under Sachem 
Wequogan, hitherto friendly, received two hundred and 
seventy of Philip's Indians, designing the next day 



Leads Forces into Massachusetts. jp 

October 5th, to burn Springfield. Toto, a Windsor 
Indian, discovered their secret, and during the night the 
news was sent by a swift horseman to Springfield and 
thence to Westfield and Hadley. The inhabitants of the 
doomed town betook themselves to the garrisons, and 
the six hundred warriors burned thirty-three houses and 
twenty-five barns and the mill. Treat's army, of which 
Munson's command formed a part, was at Westfield when 
Toto's disclosure was brought to that point, and it imme- 
diately marched for Springfield. Hubbard, in his Indian 
Wars, observes : " No doubt the whole town had been 
totally destroyed, but that a Report of the Plot being 
carried about over night, Major Treat came from West- 
field time enough in a Manner for the Rescue, but wanting 
Boats to transport his Men, could not do so much Good 
as he desired." "He arrived there," however, says an 
eminent student of colonial history, 1 " in time to save the 
lives of the inhabitants, and a part of the town from the 
flames." 

Five days after the Lieutenant was commissioned to 
conduct the New Haven County dragoons to the seat of 
war, the town of New Haven appointed a committee, 
including Munson, " to erect some fortification at the 
meeting-house," and, if deemed best, elsewhere. After 
the burning of Springfield, it was ordered, agreeably to 
the suggestion of the committee, that some houses be 
fortified, that at the four angles of the town-square 
superior fortifications be erected, and that there be a 
line of pallisadoes all about the town-square ; each inhab- 
itant was required to build four rods of this stockade. 
It was also ordered that all brush and underwood within 
half a mile of the pallisadoes be cut down and cleared 
away, that the shelter they afforded might not assist 

1 J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D. 



$0 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

the Indians "to creep in a skulking manner neare y e 
Towne." ' 

It should be minded that Munson was a Townsman dur- 
ing these dark and bloody years, and thus most intimately 
related to all local proceedings connected with the war. 

February 25th, 1676, Lieut. Munson was " appoynted 

Captain of N. Haven County souldiers, and commissioned 

accordingly. " This was as high rank as had been 

Captain. & J & 

attained by any citizen of New Haven, (about 
equivalent to general in our time,) and it remained the 
highest for seven or eight years longer.' 2 May 15th, the 
General Court, in view of the strength of the enemy and 
the outrages they were committing, instituted " a standing 
army" of which " Capt n Tho : Munson was chosen Capt n 
for N. Haven County." 



Portrait and Character. 

We have now sampled the acts and events in Captain 
Munson's life as fully as our limitations permit. Is not his 
career a panorama which his posterity may contemplate 
with just pleasure and rational pride ? James I., Charles 
I., Cromwell, Charles II., were the British sovereigns in 
his day : what favorite was elevated to a barony, an earl- 
dom or a dukedom, who was so rich in manly worth, 
whose essential nobility shone with so much lustre, 
whose public services were so various, so valuable and 
so monumental ? Let every heart admire him, every lip 

1 The next March—" It was ordered that noe person shall plant any Indian 
corne within two rod of the stockaded line ;" and, also, " y* noe Indian bee 
sufferred to com into y e Towne to see the fortifications or take notis of any 
of our actings and motions." 

2 1683. 



His Looks, Traits, Footprints. 4.1 

praise him, every son and daughter emulate his resplend- 
ent example. 

O that we had a portrait of him ! Well, I will paint 
one reflecting my conception of him. A light-complex- 
ioned man, with blue eyes and brown hair ; his nose 
straight and prominent ; in person, larger and taller than 
the average man, probably ; erect, methodical, prompt 
and dignified, as became his soldierly profession ; courtly, 
as became his judicial and legislative associations. 

Passing from the outward appearance. — he was a man 
of irrepressible aspiration ; he was a man of superior 
intelligence, — and his fine autograph indicates cultivation ; 
he was a man of leonine courage ; a man of tireless 
energy ; a man whose judgment was preeminent, — the 
solitaire of his faculties ; a man whose versatility was 
wonderful, — perhaps not less exceptional than his judg- 
ment ; his integrity, so far as appears, was whiteness and 
brightness ; and, in fine, his place was on the side of the 
All-wise and the All-holy. 

What remains ? This beautiful, historic Green is fretted 
with our worthy's footsteps as multitudinously as the 
aisles of autumnal forests with fallen leaves. Hundreds 
of times he walked hither with stately step to the monthly 
courts and the general courts for the plantation and the 
jurisdiction ; hundreds of times has he come with martial 
step to attend train-band, artillery and cavalry exercises ; 
1 500 times has he marched hither at evening to set the 
nightly watch ; 4000 times has he come over this ground, 
with a semi-devout aspect, to attend the Wednesday 
lecture ; 9000 times he has walked reverently, yet with 
something of soldierly energy, precision and stateliness 
in his gait, to the public worship on the Lord's-days. I 
cannot estimate his visits to this Green at fewer than 
40,000. 



/]_2 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

His monument ? New Haven is his monument, and 
Connecticut is his monument. There is not a stone in the 
foundations of this enchanting town which his hand has 
not touched, adjusted, embellished. Turn which way you 
will, go which way you will, you have only to brush off 
the dust and rub off the lichens to find " MlJNSON fecit." 

But you, my dear kinsmen, are the living monument of 
Thomas Munson. It may be said with candor and 
sobriety that the descendants of this man exhibit a very 
high average of ability, uprightness, thrift and respect- 
ability. And you have made his name creditably known 
in your several residences from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf 
of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Ave, 
more : here and there across the nation you have caused 
his name to be inscribed in characters which are truly 
monumental, as in the case of Munson Street and Munson 
Park in this city ; Munson's Hill in Virginia — covered with 
history six fathoms deep ; Munson Hill — a post-village in 
Ohio ; Munsonville in New Hampshire, Munsonville in 
New York, Munson's Station in Pennsylvania, the town- 
ship of Munson in Illinois, and the township of Munson 
in Nebraska. 

As we pass in grand review before the Captain, he will 
certainly contemplate very many and very much with 
approbation and applause ; but no member of the proces- 
sion will have merit enough, I had almost said half enough 
merit, to entitle him to measure arms with our greatest 
soldier and ablest civilian, Thomas the First. 



His Son Samuel. 4.3 



POSTERITY OF THOMAS MUNSOX. 

The scope of this discourse includes a few glimpses of 
Thomas Munson's posterity. 

His only son Samuel was by trade a shoemaker, with 

which that of a tanner was probably combined. He also 

owned and cultivated farming lands. His military rank 

was that of Ensign. Early in 1670 he joined with 

ms son John Mosse, John Brockitt, Nathaniel Merriman, 

Samuel. J ' J 

and twenty-two other New Haveners, in the 
founding of Wallingford, ten miles north-north-easterly. 
He was nearly twenty-seven, the age at which his father 
settled in New Haven. His daughter and eldest son had 
been born before his removal ; the next five sons were 
born during the eleven years of his residence in Walling- 
ford, notwithstanding which the elder three were born in 
New Haven, and only Joseph and Stephen in Wallingford ; 
Caleb, and two younger sons who have no posterity, were 
born after the return to New Haven in 1681. Ens. Samuel, 
if we may trust the records, was the first schoolmaster 
at Wallingford ; ' he was for a time the public drummer ; 
his residence during the early years was the place of 
public worship, for which some compensation was ren- 
dered. He was on the important committee to determine 
the rules for the allotment of the lands, 3 which were at 
first all common. At the age of thirty he was elected one 
of the Townsmen, and he was chosen to the same office 
the following year and also the last two years he was in 
Wallingford. 3 One year he was chosen leather-sealer, 4 
another treasurer, 5 two years auditor, 6 two years recorder 
of lands,' and five years assessor." In 1681, at the age of 

1 1679. • 2 1672. 3 1673, 1674, 16S0, 16S1. 4 1678. 5 16S0. 6 1676 ? 
1679. 1 1679, i68r. 8 1677-16S1. 



44 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

thirty-eight, he was chosen recorder, assessor and towns- 
man, indicating that had he remained in Wallingford he 
would have been employed very extensively in public 
service. The first year of Philip's war, he was commis- 
sioned Ensign of the Wallingford Trained Band ; next 
month the colonial Council appointed him and another 
" to sign bills ;" and in March following, he and another 
wrote a letter to the Council in respect to " garrison- 
houses, and watches and wardes." In 1679 "The Towne 
made Choyce of Eii Sam 11 Munson & Eliasaph Preston to 
goe up to the Hon le Gourner ... to inquire y e Reason 
why they are deprived of Comission maiestraycy among 
them." After his return to New Haven, he was chosen 
fence-viewer, 1 constable, 2 and assessor ; 3 and during five 
years, probably ten, beginning with 1683, he and his 
brother-in-law, Joseph Tuttle, were elected searchers and 
sealers of leather. For one year, and apparently longer — 
not unlikely three years, our Ensign was Rector of the 
Hopkins Grammar School. He died 4 before he was fifty, 
surviving his father less than eight years. (The Captain's 
age was seventy-three.) We may well lament the prema- 
ture decease of our second ancestor, whose promise and 
whose performance also had been so admirable. Let it be 
distinctly recognized, cousins, recognized with veneration, 
that Ensign Samuel was the common ancestor of all the 
descendants of Capt. Thomas who bear the Munson name. 

We are now to glance at the footprints of seven sons of 
the Ensign — grandsons of the Captain. Thomas, John, 
Theophilus and Stephen dwelt in New Haven ; Samuel, 
Joseph and Caleb in Wallingford. It may be remarked 

1 1686. - 1692. 3 1692. 

4 Between Dec. 26, 1692, when he was elected constable, and March 2, 
1693, when the inventory of his estate was dated. 



His Grandsons Samuel and Tliomas. 4.5 

that all these brothers, whatever their trades or other 
employments, had ample possessions in land. 

1. Samuel, of Wallingford, Town Clerk and Recorder 
thirty-nine years. 1 I have examined several thousand 
pages in his handwriting. In conveyances his vocation is 

said to be that of " Planter." His military title, 
Grandson j-j^ ^ia.t of his father, was Ensign. He served 

Samuel. ° 

as treasurer, auditor, school-committee, four 
years, lister, four years, and selectman, six years. He 
was also chosen to six minor offices, involving thirteen 
years of service. There is record of yet another public 
appointment, in September, 1704: "The town chose 
Samuell Monson to look after the yong people at the 
lore eand of the meting house." His age at death was 
seventy-two. 

2. Thomas, of New Haven. He was fourteen years 
old at the death of the Captain, and was the only grand- 
child who participated in the distribution of the old 

gentleman's estate. This partiality was most 
Thomas" likely out of respect to his name. To him were 

given his grandfather's " amies & amunition," 
his tools, a colt, " 6 acres of land in the . . . Governors 
quarter, & y* parcell of meadow lying att the red banke," 
with some other things. According to the designation in 
deeds, Thomas was by vocation a " husbandman." He 
was chosen to a minor office at the age of twenty, and to 
another three years later, to which he was three times 
re-elected ; but his official career was inconspicuous. At 
the age of twenty -eight 2 he sold his place, the homestead 
of his father and grandfather, on Grove and Temple 
streets, to his brother John, and then or presently re- 
moved to lands on the First and Second Brooks, and on 
Sacket's Brook. This farm, lying on the west side of the 

1 1711-1740. 2 1709. 



46 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

Quinnipiac, was a landmark much employed in describing 
places in that region. Thomas bought three and one-half 
acres, bounded easterly on Sacket's brook, of Jonathan 
Edwards, that renowned metaphysician and divine whom 
Robert Hall declared to be " the greatest of the sons of 
men." In 1716, when the project of locating Yale College 
in New Haven was under contemplation, a number of 
citizens thought to encourage the enterprise by donating 
forty acres of land to its treasury ; Thomas gave two acres 
and Theophilus one. This " Colledge lott" was "about 
half a mile Northerly of Thomas Munsons," and a Walling- 
ford record describes Munson as " of Newhaven north 
village." There are indications in some of his convey- 
ances that Thomas was a humorous man. He lived to 
the age of seventy-five. 

3. Capt. John, of New Haven, who, taken all in all — his 
versatility, the variety of his activities and achievements, 
and the number, value and eminence of his public services 
being regarded, — possibly excels any other de- 
Grandson scen dant of Thomas Munson. In documents, for 

John. ' 

twenty years, he is called a " maultster " or 
" malster ;" and from 1722, a "miller." In 1716, during 
the reign of George I., he bought a new corn-mill, located 
on Beaver-Pond Brook ; at a later period it had a bolting 
department. Ten years later, he and others built a saw- 
mill " upon the West River above Sperrys farme ;" he 
owned at least a quarter interest. Nine years later, 
he bought a one-third interest in Todd's mill, a lineal 
descendant of the first mill in New Haven ; it was on Mill 
river, opposite Mill-Rock, and at this period, a " Bake- 
house " was a part of the property. When he became a 
miller, he sold his place on Grove and Temple streets 
to Theophilus, and resided eastward of the West-Rock, 
where his business was. He had a " malt-house " there 



His Grandson John. 4.J 

also. In 1 712, he obtained a grant of land for a wharf. 
He was key-keeper, grand-juror, constable, two years, 
collector, two years, leather-sealer, six years, assessor, two 
years, Townsman, nine years, Deputy to the General 
Assembly, ten sessions. At the age of thirty-six ' he had 
won the title of Captain, and from that date for more than 
ten years he was annually elected Moderator for all the 
town meetings of the year. This fact has a unique and 
brilliant look. Capt. John was chosen the first Steward of 
Yale College, an office which he filled three years. 2 The 
first attempt to establish regular communication between 
New Haven and Hartford was in 171 7, when the General 
Assembly gave Capt. John the exclusive right of trans- 
porting persons and goods between the two places for 
seven years. This franchise was granted in consideration 
of his having been at " the cost and charge to set up a 
waggon to pass and transport passengers and goods." 
" On the first Monday of every month, excepting Decem- 
ber, January, February, and March," he was to "set forth 
with the said waggon from New Haven, and with all 
convenient despatch drive up to Hartford, and thence in 
the same week return to New Haven." There was a fine 
of forty shillings for infringing on Munson's privilege. 
This stage is believed to have run at intervals of two 
weeks, — doing better than the statute required. It re- 
mains to add that John Munson was a Deacon of the First 
Church ; we do not know the limits of his term of service, 
but he was in office in October, 1742, and December, 1748. 
The last record which mentions him as living is February 
6, 1749; he was then seventy-six years of age. 

4. Capt. Theophilus, of New Haven, whose prominence 
among the seven brothers was next to that of John. His 

1 1709. s 1718-1721. 



q8 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

dealings in real-estate were extensive, and he was decidedly 

successful in acquiring property. By trade he 

Grandson was a « locksmith." He held four minor offices by 

Theophilus. J 

fifteen elections. He was also constable, collector 
and treasurer, tithingman, three years, lister, three years, 
and thirty-three times at least he was elected sealer of 
weights and measures. He was Townsman eight years, and 
Deputy to the General Assembly three sessions. In 1 712 he 
was on a town-committee to assist in laying out the undi- 
vided land, and nine years later was on another committee 
to prepare plans for the sixth division. He and five others, 
in 1 71 7, were granted an area of " the flats " eight rods wide, 
" beginning at the end of the highway leading down by Cap 1 . 
Prouts to the water side : provided that the sd Grantees 
build a wharfe forty Rods long . . and twenty foots wide 
. . . within eight years." We note as a curiosity that the 
price of five acres purchased by Theophilus, in 1708, was a 
"neagro woman Called Hagur," together with five pounds, 
twelve shillings. This prosperous man resided forty-five 
years on College street, at the corner of Wall, where Prest. 
Dwight resides, and he died at the age of seventy-two. 

5. Ens. Joseph, of Wallingford, — by trade a "joyner." 
He occupied two inferior offices by six elections. He was 

also grand-juror, an assessor three years, and a. 
Joseph" Townsman in 171 3. His residence is located by 

a record made in 1716: "The lower end of the 
town ' begins at Joseph Munsons." He was only fifty-two 
years old when he died. 

6. Sergt. Stephen, of New Haven, — by trade a " lock- 
smith " and also " gunn smith." He was chosen to three 
minor offices by eighteen elections ; he was also constable, 

collector, two years, assessor, two years, and a 
Grandson Townsman in 1731 and 1733. It is in evidence 

Stephen. ' J ' J J 

1 Village. 



Thcophilus, Joseph, Stephen, Caleb. j.y 

that he had a " Negro man " whom he sold. You may 
recall the thought of Mr. Everett : " The faults of our 
fathers were the faults of the age in which they lived ; 
their virtues were their own." And we do well to ruminate 
on a remark of Coleridge, to wit: "A dwarf sees far- 
ther than the giant when he has the giant's shoulder to 
mount on." Sergt. Stephen's home for sixty-six years 
was at the northwest corner of Grove and State streets. 
He died at the age of eighty-nine. He had been blind 
for some years. 

7. Caleb, of Wallingford, — by trade a " weaver." He 

was chosen grand-juror, tithingman, school-com- 

Grandson m j^ ee ant j m \nA-i first Selectman. At the end 

Caleb. ' ^° 

of the year the citizens " Voted that they would 
except the Select Mens Account Read to them in General 
without hearing the Particulars or having any further 
examination." This is a novel record, and highly compli- 
mentary to Caleb. The board was re-elected, with our 
relative at the head of it. This seventh son of the Ensign 
died at the age of eighty-three. 

The last survivor of these seven brothers died one hun- 
dred and nineteen years ago, seven years before the Revo- 
lutionary war. The four who lived in this town were all 
members of the church which worships in this house ; the 
early records of the Wallingford church are not extant. 

We are nearly at the end of our tether. 

In the next generation, the fourth, Solomon removed 

to New Jersey and Ephraim to Massachusetts. In the fifth, 

Obadiah the Second removed to Pennsylvania, Timothy 

and Caleb to Vermont, Dr. Austin, Joseph and 

Migrations. ' , 

Benjamin to New York, Hermon to Ohio, and 
Cornelius to the British army. In the sixth generation 
the migrations from Connecticut were numerous. 



jo A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

A letter from Munson's Hill, Va., has the following : 
" I have heard my grandfather say that he had heard his 
father 1 say that he knew New Haven when more than half 
the signs on business-houses bore the name of Munson." 
This ancient witness was forty-one years old when the 
battle of Bunker Hill was fought. 



A Fezv Names. 

Among deceased Munsons who have been notably prom- 
inent in business were Capt. Joseph, merchant, and Dr. 
^Eneas, Jr., merchant and banker of New Haven ; Reuben, 
a manufacturer of combs in New York City, and Israel, a 
merchant of Boston, who " was a distinguished benefactor 
of humane and literary institutions." Alfred, of Utica, 
was the first manufacturer of buhr mill-stones in this 
country ; he engaged widely in transportation enterprises ; 
he invested extensively and profitably in the coal-fields of 
Pennsylvania, — and became a millionaire. Norman C, of 
Boston, deserves, by the boldness of his undertakings and 
the greatness of his achievements, to stand at the head of 
our business-men. His record in the construction of rail- 
roads is an astonishment, while the filling of the Back Bay 
region at Boston was the greatest contract ever executed 
in Massachusetts. The equipment for the work embraced 
twenty-five miles of track, fourteen locomotives, two hun- 
dred and twenty-five cars and two steam excavators. For 
seventeen years he ran his trains and excavators night 
and day, most of the time. He became a millionaire by 
this contract. 

A good number of our race have been educated in col- 
leges. Yale has graduated twenty-one of our blood and 
name ; sixteen took the academic course, and five a profes- 

1 Timothy. 



Doctor Eneas Munson. 51 

sional. Among our divines was Samuel, the missionary, 
who laid down his life while on a tour of inquiry among 
the cannibals of Sumatra. The ministers in our own age, 
include three college-presidents, several men with the title 
of D. D., and other doctors of divinity unfurnished with 
the title. There are lawyers and judges on the roll of the 
family ; one of them has been attorney -general of the 
United States and minister to England. But the Munson 
profession for four generations has been that of medicine. 
And the numerous catalogue is of respectable quality. 
Eneas the First, whom the elders designate as "old Dr. 
Munson," was probably our most distinguished profes- 
sional man. He practiced medicine seventy years. When 
the medical department of Yale College was instituted, in 
1813, he was chosen professor of materia medica and 
botany. " It is undoubtedly true," says Dr. Bronson, who 
is rather fond of disparagement, " it is undoubtedly true 
that in the matter of professional learning and scientific 
information, he ranked with the eminent men of his coun- 
try." " Dr. Munson was a pioneer," says Dr. Ives, " in 
the science of Botany ;" he was " unrivalled in his knowl- 
edge of indigenous materia medica, and in materia medica 
generally probably his superior was not to be found in 
Europe. ... To Dr. Munson," he continues, "the 
faculty of this country were more indebted for the intro- 
duction of new articles and valuable modes of practice 
than to any other individual." . . . He " studied 
Chemistry with zeal and made many chemical experi- 
ments." For a time " he was looked upon as a master of 
the science, and no one in the vicinity was as well ac- 
quainted with Mineralogy. . . . He was looked up to 
by all his medical brethren on all subjects relating to 
Chemistry and Pharmacy." Thus far Prof. Ives. Prof. 
Silliman, sen., was accustomed, in his earlier lectures, to 



j 2 A Hartford and Netv Haven Pioneer. 

speak of Dr. Munson with deference. He was above the 
average size, erect and dignified. Seven sessions he was 
deputy to the General Court. Dr. Eneas has been much 
celebrated as a wit and humorist. A great number of his 
brilliant explosives are still extant. You might perhaps 
search history in vain to find another so eminent in the 
gravest pursuits who said and did so many things which 
were supremely amusing. He was gathered to his fathers 
in 1826. 

That a great number, a very surprising number, of our- 
ancestors participated in the Revolutionary war is an 
embellishment of our name. Nearly all espoused the 
patriot-cause, though a very few remained loyal to the 
Crown. Some of the latter migrated to Canada. Major 
William Munson, of this city, shall be a sample of our 
noblemen in that great era. His youngest daughter, at 
the age of ninety-five, participates in our festivities to-day. 
Major William, who was a first cousin of Benedict 
Arnold's first wife, was a lieutenant — from November, 
1775 — in Arnold's expedition to Quebec. There is extant 
an " Accompt " of the baggage lost by our officer "att 
the Retreat from Ouebeck the 6th of May 1776." He 
was in command at Dobbs Ferry when Andre was exe- 
cuted as a spy. He was discharged in 1783. His resi- 
dence in this city was on the northeast corner of State 
and Fair streets. At the time of the British Invasion, in 
Juh", 1779, the house was deserted, Mrs. Munson having 
gone to Wallingford. Her mother, Mrs. John Hall, who 
lived directly opposite, on the corner of Fair and Fleet 
streets, went over to the Major's, Monday afternoon, July 
5th, to see if there were any valuables which should be 
made secure. While she was on the steps a British officer 
came along, drew his sword, with which she feared he was 
about to cut her throat, clipped a string of gold beads 



Major William Munson. jj 

from her neck, and then — gallant gentleman that he was — 
took the silver buckles from her shoes. The next morn- 
ing, presumably, as the fleet sailed away, an eighteen- 
pound shot, after perforating the Sabin house, passed 
under the sill of a window at which Mrs. Munson usually 
sat when sewing. The ball crossed the room and struck 
the back of the capacious fireplace, when its force was 
spent. It was conceived to have come five miles. 1 The 
Major had the ball replaced where it struck and fastened 
there. Our venerable cousin, Mrs. Grace Munson 
Wheeler, has many times seen her father, when visitors 
were present, take up the tongs and brush the soot from 
the ball, to show it to them. That historic missile I now 
hold in my hand. For thirty -three years our veteran was 
a Surveyor of the Customs, — his first commission bearing 
the autograph of both Washington and Jefferson. When 
LaFayette visited New Haven, more than forty years after 
the war," he promptlv recognized the Major and embraced 
him. The latter's grand-daughter, who is present with us, 
was then a school-girl, and she remembers going to the 
Franklin House and stealing an opportunity to touch the 
illustrious Frenchman's coat. Munson's certificate as a 
member of the Society of the Cincinnati was signed by 
Washington. 

The Typical Munson. 

Shall I now portray the average, the representative, the 
typical Munson ? You reply something about a conun- 
drum. But conundrums are sometimes solved. 

He is of rather light complexion, with eyes having some 
degree of blueness, and hair brownish or of some related 
shade ; his nose is rather prominent, and pretty straight, — 

1 Probably not. s 1824. 



54. A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

this, by the way, is his most characteristic feature ; in 
person he is seldom small, though his height, weight and 
form are most varied and uncertain, — not urifrequently 
tall, yet frequently not tall, but, as he ripens in years, 
exhibiting aldermanic prosperity in the equatorial regions ; 
a vigorous animal, enduring a great deal of hard work 
and surviving a good deal of abuse, — and dying at the age 
of seventy-three. 

The typical Munson has individuality — is more like 
himself than like anybody else, — has withal a habit of 
thinking and of respecting his own views ; he has a liberal 
allotment of will-power ; he is unsatisfied unless occupying 
a plane above that occupied by the majority of his fellow- 
mortals, yet is not ambitious to soar to dizzy heights ; he 
is intelligent and well-informed ; he devotes himself assid- 
uously to his vocation ; he is provident, not lavish, — 
spending and giving with fidelity for worthy purposes, 
and most likely on occasions of highest worthiness, giving 
bountifully ; he is decidedly practical — with little ideality, 
— is neither poet nor artist, nor visionary in practical 
affairs ; he is conservative, not in haste to exchange the 
tried for the untried, — yet is he sometimes inventive and 
adventurous ; he has a strain of humor and playfulness in 
his composition ; he is an upright man and a religious 
man — loyal to the Son of God and to the great First 
Cause. 

Concluding Generalisations. 

Of riffraff bearing our label there is extremely, infinites- 
imally little. Our people are respectable farmers, excel- 
lent mechanics, thriving store-keepers, sagacious mer- 
chants, enterprising and prosperous manufacturers, — and 
they are evermore desired by their fellow-citizens to 



Concluding Generalizations. 55 

accept of public trusts. Those who become scholars are 
scholarly, and our professional men are a credit to our 
name. Even the Munson artist has been seen, though a 
rara avis. French, author of Art and Artists in Connecticut, 
says of Lucius, born 1796 : "Asa portrait painter he not 
only gave good promise for the future, but had already 
accomplished much. His pictures show good taste, and 
skill in drawing. He was a careful student, and his work 
was free and bold." He died at Turk's Island in his 
twenty-seventh year. We have also, in the author of 
Woman in Sacred Song, a cousin who is an accomplished 
composer of music, as well as a mellifluous singer. 

In politics, an immense majority of our people are 
Republican ; yet the cream of the Democratic party is 
Munsonian. In religion, the first four or five generations 
were Congregationalists, perhaps to a man ; now, besides 
Congregationalists, we have very many Methodists, a con- 
siderable number of Episcopalians, some Baptists, some 
Universalists, a few Presbyterians, and others. 

We justly recognize, my kinsmen, that there is nothing 
in our make-up for goslings like Oscar Wilde to take hold 
of, nothing for the " Salvation Army," nothing for social- 
istic disorganizes, nothing for religionless materialists ; 
and that we go to the almshouse only for beneficence, and 
to the criminal court only to act as judge, jury, witness to 
the truth, or advocate of the cause that is just. 

We none of us, my favorites, represent Thomas Munson 
with any completeness and accuracy ; the primitive type 
has been modified by seven, or eight, or nine marriages ; 
and it has been modified also by the general changes 
which have affected society — changes in light, in belief, in 
customs, in institutions, in material conditions ; and it 
makes one's heart stand still to think of the further modifi- 
cations which may take place in the next two hundred 



56 A Hartford and New Haven Pioneer. 

and fifty years. But let every Munson have the clear 
conviction that he has an ideal in Captain Thomas which 
is worthy of his daily contemplation, and let him have the 
wisdom to find inspiration and guidance and cheer in our 
first father's great and bright example. 






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